Not everyone enjoyed Pacific Rim and as a matter of fact when I went to see it with a couple of friends the reaction was not pure elation-one friend walked out after 20 minutes and the other was on a phone checking emails. I however loved the film. So statistically speaking, if two out of three people do not like something it may be safe to say they are correct but in this case they are not and this is why.

Pacific Rim is Not Pretentious
When Pacific Rim played the first trailer at Comic Con 2012 in front of 6000 screaming fans, director Guillermo del Toro promised a fun action packed movie in the style of old Godzilla films and the giant monster movies coming out of Japan in the 70’s. He delivered a giant monster movie in that style. In all the trailers the film suggests you are going to see giant monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, fighting robots called Jaegers. How can you walk into the theater and think you were going to see Citizen Kane? The actors in the film and the script play out very straight with no winking at the screen. Pacific Rim promises giant robots fighting monsters in the style of 1970’s Japanese sci-fi and that is what was delivered.

The acting is solid

Not once do you get the sense that the actors are not delivering a credible performance and seeing Ron Perlman as Hannibal Chau should be worth the price of the movie ticket. It is amazing that actors can show any kind of dynamic reacting to a green screen but Pacific Rim pulls it off.

The screenplay is fine

One of the complaints heard is that Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro wrote a simplistic script with generic story arc. Once again the objective of the film was not to tell the life story of Charles Foster Kane but to tell a straight forward narrative that will get you to a city where a robot is beating up a monster--- mission accomplished!

Pacific Rim is visually a fun movie
My last point is the film is fun to watch from a cinematic point of view. From the first 5 minutes of the film you see a giant monster destroying the Golden Gate Bridge- how cool is that? The scene where the massive Jaeger falls on the beach was completely incredible.

So my opinion is that Pacific Rim follows through with its promise. The anticipation of a different movie may have ruined the experience for some but give it another try with a different mindset. Pacific Rim is worth another look.